Dancing on ‘The Back of the Bus’

My time dancing with the Java Dance Company on their show The Back of the Bus was an exciting and rare experience. I am so grateful I took this opportunity because it was definitely something that I will remember in years to come.

Java Dance, a professional dance company who performed at Woodford earlier this year, recently approached Mrs Carpenter to offer two students the chance to be guest dancers in their show at the inaugural Hawke’s Bay Arts Festival, held in Havelock North.

When I first turned up to audition at the Woodford gym to meet the main dancers, Sacha and Sarah, I was very nervous.

Tessa Burns and I were invited to be part of the show and we began a weekend of rehearsals.

Once we had learnt all the dance moves it was time for bus practice. Dancing on a moving bus was incredibly challenging at first. The driver would do laps around a bus car park and every so often he would do a few sharp turns just to test us. But the jokes were on him because I didn’t fall over!

The choreography wasn’t too hard and it was in simple steps that I could understand. We danced a contemporary/Italian waltz, which was supposed to be very romantic to fit the theme of the performance.

On my first night I was so nervous. I got on the bus pretending to be one of the audience members, so my family friends got a big surprise when I got up and danced with the professionals!

The show was different to anything I had performed in because it was interactive with the audience.

One of the highlights was meeting the people in Java Dance Company and talking with them during practices about career paths. Also, becoming friends with them was amazing. They were incredible people and it was a fantastic experience.